


Energy Cannot be Created or Destroyed

by MilkMoustachesAreCool



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Missing Scene, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 19:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4192857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkMoustachesAreCool/pseuds/MilkMoustachesAreCool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who was it that said energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another? Einstein? Well he was right. Beatrice couldn't create any new energy to support Hero, she had to focus all her energy from the other parts of her life. That meant she had no energy left to spend on the dickface...and that was dangerous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Energy Cannot be Created or Destroyed

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, a couple of notes:  
> A) first off, I realise I'm a little late to the NMTD party, but I just found it this summer and have been obsessed with it and just needed to write some of the ideas I had. So I'm not sure if anyone will even really read this!  
> B) I'm new to this whole fanfiction thing - this is my first ever fic! So please be kind...I'm not used to this! And any feedback or constructive criticism would be much appreciated, please comment!  
> C) being a very small-town girl from Ireland, I amn't up to date on all the things I need to be careful of (I have recently come across the term ableist and still amn't really sure what it means) so if I say something that's offensive or discriminative to anyone in any way it's 100% accidental and just due to ignorance so please point it out and I'll do my best to fix it and avoid those mistakes in the future!  
> D) I haven't really edited this fic as much as I wanted to so I'm not really all that happy with it but I don't have the time to make it perfect and I want to post it!  
> E) there may be some canon divergence and some of it might be a little OOC, sorry!  
> and I think that's all my notes...hope you enjoy! :)

Hero was still shaking uncontrollably as she lay sobbing on her bed. Beatrice was fairly sure her cousin was in shock, because she hadn’t stopped shaking since Claudio had said those awful things and she had been muttering unintelligibly for the past hour. Claudio and Pedro were gone. So was everyone else, but Claudio and Pedro had come, ruined everything, then just left. How could they do that? Ursula and Balthazar had stayed for a while, but when they realised that there was nothing they could do they left to try and give Hero some space. One way or another, everyone had left them. But Benedick was still here.

Beatrice sat outside Hero’s bedroom door, her head in her hands. She knew that Ben was downstairs. She had heard him start cleaning everything up and making tea. She knew that if she went downstairs he would give her a cup of tea to calm her. He would speak softly and kindly. He would try to hug her. She couldn’t go downstairs. She really wanted that tea though.

If Beatrice was being honest with herself (which she tried to be, even if she wasn’t honest with anyone else) she wasn’t surprised at all that Benedick had stayed when all their other friends had left. She had always given him a hard time because it was easier. Easier to say he was a dick instead of saying he had hurt her. Easier to insult him instead of waiting for him to hurt her again. But she knew that when it came down to it he was a good guy. Maybe not an “All Round Great Guy” like they had thought Pedro was, but a good guy nonetheless. So she wasn’t surprised that he had stayed when everyone else had left.

She knew that she couldn’t go downstairs though. Ever since that summer when she was fourteen and Benedick had as good as rejected her, she had tried to convince herself that she was over him. It worked during the school year when he wasn’t around her and she could just remember how much of a weirdo and dick he was, but every summer she was forced to remember how funny he also was, and how adorably awkward and sweet he was, making her realise she still wasn’t over him. Moving to Auckland had been the worst because suddenly he was around all the time and instead of starting to get over him, she found herself starting to fall deeper and deeper. Not that she would ever admit it. Whenever she was around Ben she had to focus ninety percent of her energy on holding all of that in and maintaining her charade of apathy. Of course now and then the charade would falter, but she managed to channel all the emotions into anger and annoyance. It was a system that seemed to work well for her. So far.

But now her energy was so caught up with Hero that she wasn’t sure she could spend the extra energy not being herself. On hiding how she really felt about everything. On pretending not to be in love with Benedick Hobbes. Hero needed her, how could she focus on anything else? Who was it that said energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another? Einstein? Well he was right. Beatrice couldn't create any new energy to support Hero, she had to focus all her energy from the other parts of her life. That meant she had no energy left to spend on the dickface...and that was dangerous. So she couldn’t go downstairs. But she really wanted a cup of tea and she could still hear Hero sobbing, and knowing that there was nothing she could do was killing her. She had already covered her in a blanket and spoke soothing words to her. She had left a bottle of water on the bedside table for Hero to drink when she was ready. But she knew that what Hero needed, for the moment at least, was some space to be upset and to grieve and to try to make sense of everything. So she was stuck here, not able to go into Hero but also not able to go downstairs. She really wanted to go downstairs though.

Eventually she stopped hearing movements in the kitchen. Maybe he had left. Maybe he thought she wasn’t coming down so he just left. She waited another few moments, but it was still silent. He must have left. On the one hand she was relieved because now she could go downstairs without being in danger, but on the other hand, it kind of hurt that he would leave her now. She knew it was unreasonable, but she was always unreasonable when it came to Benedick Hobbes. I mean really, why on earth would she choose a hundred duck sized horses just because she had known that he would pick the horse sized duck?

She finally took a deep breath and stood up stiffly, throwing one last glance to Hero’s door before moving slowly down the stairs. She reached the kitchen and it was empty. It was more than empty, it was spotless. There was no sign of a party whatsoever. And there was a cup of tea sitting, waiting for her on the table. She moved hesitantly towards it. She had just reached her hand out to pick it up when she suddenly heard a noise from the other room. She nearly jumped a mile.

“I’m sorry, I – I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” came Benedick’s voice from the doorway. He was holding another cup of tea.

“It’s fine,” muttered Beatrice, not looking up.

“How’s Hero?” he asked, real worry in his voice.

“Um, not good,” Beatrice still didn’t look up.

“Are you okay Bea?” he asked. He never called her Bea. And he never ever said her name in that tone of voice. He always said it scathingly, like even her name itself should be considered an insult. Now his voice was full of something else when he said her name. That sound made the walls inside her mind break down. There was only one way to try to salvage the situation.

“Oh yeah, I’m fucking fantastic,” she said, her voice suddenly louder. She still didn’t look up though. “Your best friends just slut-shamed my cousin on her sixteenth birthday. She’s upstairs now in shock. She hasn’t stopped crying all night, she’s shaking, she doesn’t even understand what happened. Your fucking friends came in here, ruined Hero’s birthday, spread lies about her, convinced everyone that she was a cheater, then they got to just walk out as if nothing had happened while Hero’s the one who can barely breathe. I’m fucking brilliant, Bene-dick. I’ll tell you something though, however bad I feel right now, it’s nowhere near how Hero feels.”

“Beatrice, if you think I would ever call those two my friends after what they did tonight, you don’t know me at all.” He said in a matter-of-fact tone. He wasn’t offended or annoyed or hurt by anything she had just said. He was still calm. How was he still so calm?

Beatrice knew he wouldn’t call them his friends. She knew he was a good guy. But it was easier for now to just try to pretend he was one of the bad guys. It would stop her showing anything she didn’t want and it would give her someone to vent at.

“Did you know about this?” she demanded suddenly.

Ben moved closer. “If I had known they would do this do you think I would’ve let it happen?” Beatrice still refused to look up. “I knew they thought something had happened, but as far as I knew Claudio was going to talk to her privately after her birthday. I knew it wasn’t true and that Hero would prove it somehow so that seemed like the best idea. But apparently Claudio came up with a new idea.” He said Claudio’s name as if it were a bad taste in his mouth. When he did, he could see Beatrice’s physical reaction to the name. She couldn't hold back a flinch at the sound of it. He just wanted to reach out and hold her. Comfort her. Make it better. But he was so used to forcing himself not to act on these urges and thoughts that he just shoved it to the back of his mind. He folded his arms to keep them in place.

Beatrice finally looked up. She needed to make sure he was telling the truth and the only way to do that was to look at his face. She should have known it was a bad idea though. Sure enough, she saw that he was telling the truth, but she also saw something else. The look in his eyes was the same look he always had when they argued and teased each other. It was the same look he had whenever she unexpectedly caught his eye in class. It was the same look she had fallen in love with when she was fourteen. And it was a look she knew. It was the same look she had in her eyes whenever she looked at him.

She had known for a while that Benedick loved her as much as she loved him. Maybe even more. But she still couldn’t let go. Why should she, when he wouldn’t either? He was the boy, he should make the first move (she didn’t normally condone gender stereotypes, but this one was just the perfect excuse to avoid risking her pride in front of Benedick Hobbes). So the look in his eyes wasn’t exactly a surprise, but it still caught her off guard.

“Fuck,” she said unconsciously.

“What?” murmured Benedick. They were still staring into each other’s eyes and Beatrice couldn’t do it anymore. Too much of her energy was being spent worrying about Hero. She just didn’t have enough left for this.

“I can’t do it now,” she said, not even fully aware of what she was saying.

“Can’t do what?” He knew exactly what.

“Pretend.”

“Pretend?”

“I just don’t have the energy. Not with Hero the way she is now.”

“Me either.”

They had been moving steadily closer to each other as they gazed into each other’s eyes, unable to break eye contact. Benedick had slowly relaxed his arms, unfolding them. Instead of lowering them to his sides though, he reached them out to place them on Beatrice’s arms in a comforting gesture. They finally broke eye contact when they were so close that they could feel each other’s short, shallow breaths on their faces. Beatrice lowered her head and placed it on Benedick’s chest. He wrapped his arms the whole way around her, enveloping her in an embrace.

They stood like that for what felt like an eternity. Beatrice started crying at some point, and Benedick held her even closer. They stood like that until Beatrice had no tears left. Finally she looked up again, wiping her face with her hands.

“Sorry,” she gave a half laugh as she said it.

“Don’t be,” he smiled kindly. And then they were kissing. It all just felt so right. Beatrice finally felt like she was at home. Benedick felt like he could never let go of her.  
At least one thing had been put right, now they could focus completely on Hero and try to put that situation right too. People might think them strange or foolish or inconsiderate for starting something while all of this was going on, but they knew that they weren’t starting anything, they were finishing something. And it was about time.

**Author's Note:**

> So I dunno how good this was, I just had read a lot of fics about Bea/Ben not wanting to start something new in the middle of everything that was going on with Hero and I had this plot bunny about how it really wasn't anything new and the reason they got together was because now that they had Hero to focus on they couldn't keep focusing on each other anymore, or something! Not totally happy with how it turned out but I got the general idea, so I hope you liked it!


End file.
